Thank you

First, I want to thank Monica Hesse for writing this story and her commitment to get it right. We spoke as recently as yesterday trying to ensure that the details were correct. And, I want to thank the Post for running the story and Steve Luxenburg, the reporter I met on the plane, for getting it all started to begin with. I want to thank everyone who joined, commented, forwarded, Face-booked (?) or otherwise got in touch with me about the story. It is gratifying to know that people are looking and care enough to get in touch. I have heard from folks in Afghanistan, Korea, other writers and photographers, and also, people who have told me they are learning things they never knew! As a retired educator, you cannot imaging how much THAT means to me.

The only corrections to the story are that I returned from 'Nam in April of 1968, not long after the well documented Tet Offensive and the Mississippi memorial is in Ocean Springs, a few miles east of Biloxi.

Note to SJM3091 on the Post site, and anyone who posted a response on my site but did not leave an address, email me at 50statememorials@gmail.com, I would love to talk to you.

For anyone who may have missed it, you can find the Post online version of the story here;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/30/AR2010053003463.html

The text of the online version is identical to the print version, but they have included additional photos.

On the Post site there is also a place to leave and/or read responses to the article. Some are supportive, others, not so much. I am amazed at the need to continue fighting the war. I had hoped that we were beyond that, by now. My goal was to help some vets heal and others, who are not vets, understand a little better the impact of the war and its aftermath on its veterans.